Cheap AA Battery charger will trickle charge, or cleverly charge?

[Flyback]

Hi,

Do you know if this battery charger (below) actually stops charging when the battery gets up to voltage…or does it constantly trickle charge the battery, such that the battery lifetime will be less?

Do you think there’s 4 separate chargers in there? (one for each battery)…or is it just a power supply, with resistors leading off to each battery?

BONAI 4 Bays AA AAA Ni-MH Ni-CD Battery Charger
https://www.amazon.co.uk/BONAI-Indi...jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

You've already answered your own question when you specified 'cheap' - it will be as horrible as they can make it.

However, charging requirements mean that even a good charger will set a trickle charge once fully charged, that's how it's supposed to work - why would you imagine lifetime would be reduced?.

 

[Flyback]

Thanls..if the constant trickle was too high, then the batteries would be overly heated and not last as long.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Thanls..if the constant trickle was too high, then the batteries would be overly heated and not last as long.

And that wouldn't be 'trickle charging', that would be 'charging'

I can't comment on that exact unit, but pretty well every cheap charger I've seen has been incredibly crude and nasty - that's why they are cheap.

But even expensive chargers aren't that good anyway - we replace countless battery packs at work, all of which are in expensive products and have expensive complicated charging systems - rechargeable batteries really aren't that great for reliability.

 

[Flyback]

we replace countless battery packs at work, all of which are in expensive products and have expensive complicated charging systems - rechargeable batteries really aren't that great for reliability.

Thanks, i can see the oncoming of landfills full of dead batteries due to all the electric bikes and cars and scooters and drones.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Thanks, i can see the oncoming of landfills full of dead batteries due to all the electric bikes and cars and scooters and drones.

As far as I'm aware it all goes to recycling facilities?. And certainly lead acid batteries have done so for MANY decades, as there's a major lead recycling facility not far from where i used to live (I used to go past it every day going to work). Interestingly it was previously a large lead mine, at one time one of the most important in the world.

 

[audioguru]

I replaced all my NiCad batteries that came with my solar garden lights with Energizer Ni-MH many years ago. A few failed before the 5 years guaranteed lifetime and were promptly replaced by Energizer. These batteries are charged and discharged more than 1825 times!

Some solar garden lights in my home do not have sunlight due to trees so I charge then every week with a Duracell smart charger that shuts off when the batteries are charged. Modern Energizer Ni-MH batteries are like the Sanyo/Panasonic Eneloop that hold a charge for one year then they do not need a trickle charge.

 

[audioguru]

Amazon and their sellers sell clothes and shoes and know nothing about the electronic products they sell.
Did you read the "Details" about the cheap charger? Only the size and the weight.

 

[gophert]

Only the size and the weight.

I always wonder, which of those properties is most important in a battery charger.

 

[Flyback]

Thanks yes, and i believe that with all the dirt cheap chargers, which wear batteries out quicker than they should, we are chucking away hundreds of thousands of tonnes of batteries that we need not.
And any battery contains loads of poisons...which you cannot get rid of all of it by recycling....we are quite simply being poisoned.

 

[gophert]

And any battery contains loads of poisons..

Name two.

How are you defining, poison? Is NaCl a poison because it will kill you if you eat a pound of it?

Please elaborate the poisons in batteries vs the poisons in packaging, the poisons in washing detergents that you happily rinse down the drain, the poisons in lawn fertilizers and herbicides - for that matter, the fertilizers and herbicides used on agriculture fields.

Do you have a gut-feel about the ratio of tons of "poisons" in batteries vs the tons in those other applications that you seem not to care about that I mentioned?

I suggest you put your outrage and energy towards the biggest problems.

 

[Flyback]

well even if not chocca with poisons, not all the precious battery chemicals can get recycled, and so we are wasting more of that precious resource.......soon it will be difficult to mine enough chemicals to make all the batteries we need.

 

[alec_t]

.soon it will be difficult to mine enough chemicals to make all the batteries we need

Time to invest in a horse and cart for personal transport?

 

[gophert]

Then all of those precious oats will have to be planted, fertilized, sprayed for weeds, harvested and distributed to each family to feed the horses.

 

[unclejed613]

when i saw the title of this thread, my first thought was "cheap and clever are rarely found together"

 

[ChrisP58]

when i saw the title of this thread, my first thought was "cheap and clever are rarely found together"

Not necessarily. Innovative people often find clever ways to make existing products cheaper.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Not necessarily. Innovative people often find clever ways to make existing products cheaper.

But almost always by making them much poorer.

 

[unclejed613]

But almost always by making them much poorer.

reminds me of a quote in the title sequence of the TV show "WKRP".... "it's made of real plastic, so don't settle for cheap imitations"

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

reminds me of a quote in the title sequence of the TV show "WKRP".... "it's made of real plastic, so don't settle for cheap imitations"

I used to love WKRP

Particularly Jennifer